


Enshrined

by izayoi_no_mikoto



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: (it's Vicchan), Bittersweet, Collars, Dogs, Gen, Implied Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Nonnies Made Me Do It, POV Animal, POV Makkachin (Yuri!!! on Ice)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2019-01-05 08:59:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12186948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izayoi_no_mikoto/pseuds/izayoi_no_mikoto
Summary: Makkachin knows better than anyone the proper way to remember a dog.





	Enshrined

When Victor and Victor's Yuuri are away, Makkachin has to turn elsewhere for love and attention.  Fortunately, the Katsuki Family (to whom Victor's Yuuri belongs when he's not Victor's) are good people, _dog_ people, and they let Makkachin have free rein of Yuutopia Katsuki.  She generally installs herself in one of the common areas, which has the widest variety of interesting scents, and also where guests, neighbors and Katsukis alike can all come and say hello to her (she rewards those who do with a big, tongue-lolling smile and a whap of her tail against the floorboards).  But not everyone likes dogs (because some people are Wrong), and the Katsuki Family are all so nice that she doesn't want to cause them trouble, so when someone who is Wrong About Dogs comes along, Makkachin will take herself elsewhere, somewhere she's properly appreciated.

Usually that means she flops down on Victor's bed.  Lately she's taken to sneaking into Victor's Yuuri's room, because his bed is _very_ comfortable, thank you very much, and now the room smells almost as much like Victor as Victor's room does.  And sometimes she likes to explore, sticking her nose in wherever things smell the most interesting.

She's nosing along a row of cabinets one evening when she catches a whiff of dog.  Her ears perk up, and she nudges at the cabinet door in question, tail wagging in curiosity.  She knows there used to be another dog here ("Vicchan," he was called, and Victor's Yuuri always smells so _sad_ when he hears it), and she knows that Vicchan even has a shrine (which has only a picture that of course doesn't smell like dog, and what's the point of a shrine to remember somedog by if you can't even _smell_ him?).  But this is the first time she's ever smelled proof of a prior canine denizen.

It's quite the exciting discovery.  But no matter how Makkachin noses at the door, she can't get it open.  She whines and paws at it, but it barely budges.

"Makkachin, what are you doing?"

Makkachin sits down and yips, grinning excitedly at Victor's Yuuri.  He smells like warmth; he must have come from the hot spring.  She nudges at the door with her nose again, then starts wagging her tail, beaming expectantly.

(She adores Victor's Yuuri.  For one, he is Right About Dogs, unlike Other Yuri, whom Makkachin views with an eye of suspicion due to his constantly smelling like _cat_ ; for another, Victor always smells so _happy_ when he's with Victor's Yuuri, and she'd almost forgotten what happy Victor smells like, it had been so long.  She also adores Victor's Yuuri because he doesn't yell at her or ignore her when she scratches at a cabinet door in search of something interesting.)

"What is it?" Victor's Yuuri asks, and he opens the cabinet door.  Makkachin promptly sticks her head inside, panting happily.

The dog-scent is coming from a strip of flat nylon fabric that's adorned with a few metal bits.  The scent is faint, but it’s very definitely dog.  Makkachin noses aside some other objects that are in the way and sniffs rapidly.

Victor's Yuuri crouches down and peers inside.  "Oh," he says, surprised, and he gently displaces Makkachin to reach inside and pull it out.  "That's Vicchan's old collar."

Makkachin pulls away from sniffing the collar to look up at him.  He smells sad again.  She wags her tail even harder, hoping it will help.

"I used to have a dog," Victor's Yuuri explains.  "Vicchan.  He died while I was away skating.  I didn't know we still had his collar here."

He smells guilty, which is just silly.  It's not his fault; the nylon weave is permeated with Vicchan's scent, true, but the collar was hidden in a cabinet on the very bottom shelf, far away from human noses.  Besides, the collar shouldn't have been there in the first place; it should have had a place of honor at the shrine, where Vicchan's scent would allow people to remember him properly.

Makkachin nudges the collar with her nose, then turns and trots out of the room.  "Makkachin?" Victor's Yuuri asks, sounding confused, but he gets up and follows her nevertheless.  (Victor's Yuuri is smart.  It's another reason she adores him.)  She leads him down the hall and to the room where Vicchan's shrine resides, and then she sits down in front of the shrine and looks up at him.

Victor's Yuuri stares at the shrine.  His scent is complicated, mixed with too many things, but in the end, something bittersweet wins out, that sad/happy mix that only humans are capable of.  "You're right, Makkachin," he says softly, and he sets the collar down in the shrine, right where it belongs.

**Author's Note:**

> (Inspired by the prompt: 100 words of collars)


End file.
